India's orphans

The world may be getting destroyed at scrap value with the imminent and ongoing threat of climate change but it doesn't stymie human beings' oldest desire — to procreate. Call it nature's built-in instinct, ticking biological clocks, or insurance for old age — people want kids. I have seen in many people around me that burning desire and longing for progeny. This inexorable yearning defies age, anatomy, and sometimes, even logic, in their quest to have children. Thanks to modern science, there are many options such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy to have biological children. Many of these methods are not immediately successfully depleting finances, mental health, and mutilating women's bodies along the way. To think that while couples try hard to have biological children any way possible, there are at present an estimated three crores orphaned and abandoned children in India waiting for home and shelter.

Nurturing life is a beautiful endeavour; protecting, teaching, and preparing kids for the future is a fulfilling experience — one that can give greater meaning and motivation to life. Why then don't we turn our attention to the millions that are deprived of love and care? We need to change the narrative. I'd propose utilising public campaigns with social messages to encourage people to adopt more kids. But for those who don't need persuasion to adopt, there are bureaucratic hurdles to overcome. The adoption process in India is so arduous and soul-crushing that even India's apex court has commented on the bottlenecks. "There are a lot of young couples waiting to adopt the child but the process is so tedious that it takes three to four years to get a single child to be adopted through the CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority). Can you imagine a three to four years period to adopt a child in India? It should be made simpler. There are lakhs and lakhs of orphan children waiting to be adopted," a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, AS Bopanna, and JB Pardiwala said to Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, who was representing the central government.

As of now, only 4,000 children are being adopted annually. While ensuring the safety of the child and genuineness of adoption is important, the tardy pace of the adoption process leaves behind disillusioned and frustrated adoptive parents. With the view of expediting the adoption process, the government has set new rules wherein adoption petitions can be transferred from courts to District Magistrates. Lawyers, adoption agencies, and activists opine that the new rule would add further delays as there is lack of awareness and clarity pertaining to the new rule. There are already 1,000 cases pending before various courts around the country.

The Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated the problem at hand. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health study claims that India has the sixth highest number of Covid orphans, who lost a parent or a caregiver to the deadly virus. Let's not waste our breath on the methodology of the Lancet study. The three crore orphans that exist in India as mentioned by the Supreme Court are shocking enough. So, while we may debate UK-based peer-reviewed medical journal's numbers of 19 lakh orphans caused by Covid-19 in India, the important bit is that the virus has added to the already inflated number of orphans.

There are systemic failures at play; failures that need to be speedily fixed. We, as a society, and with the government leading the cause, must protect India's orphans. We need to give them a chance at happiness, warmth, and a future of potential and possibilities. The word, 'orphan' is such a heavy word that just mentioning it makes me feel bogged down; imbuing a sense of melancholy --- I'm just writing orphans; there are 3 crore children living that life.

The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal